Dorothy+Roe


 * SUMMARY: "Dorothy," age 44, died of abortion complications in 1973.**

"Dorothy" is one of the women Life Dynamics notes on their "Blackmun Wall" of women killed by legalized abortion.

Dorothy was a 44-year-old mother of four when she learned that she was pregnant in 1973. She had just gone off birth control pills two months earlier.

Since Dorothy didn't want any more children, her physician performed a hysterectomy abortion, removing the 10-week fetus along with Dorothy's uterus. She developed a pulmonary [|embolism], which killed her eight days after the abortion.

As you can see from the graph below, abortion deaths were falling dramatically before legalization. This steep fall had been in place for decades. To argue that legalization lowered abortion mortality simply isn't supported by the data.

Source: Life Dynamics "Blackmun Wall", citing “Fatal Pulmonary Embolism During Legal Induced Abortion in the United States from 1972-1985,” Lawson, Herschel W., MD, Atrash, Hani K., MD, MPH, Franks, Adele L., MD, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vol. 162, No. 4, April 1990, p. 986-990; “Deaths caused by pulmonary thromboembolism after legally induced abortion,” Kimball, Hallum, Cates, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Sept. 15, 1978, 132(2):169-74

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